author | speaker | coach | hugger

spring

I believe that if we understand one another, then we love more easily. It’s why I’m a writer, to understand, to feel understood, and therefore to give and receive love.

Words can also get in the way of that connection. I can lean on them like a crutch when being silent is uncomfortable. I can over-share. (You’ve probably noticed.)

Taking this photo in the yard of my parents’ house in upstate New York was a helpful reminder:

After, I could not for the life of me figure out what to say about it as I uploaded it to Instagram.

It was seriously bugging me. I think that says more about my social media addiction, and how immediate I felt this needed to be shared, but it is also about words. I need them a little too much. Looking around, again on social media, I can tell I’m not the only one. We are a culture of over-sharers.

Of course if you really look at it, the photo says enough all by itself.

Does it speak to you?

Do you feel something while looking at it?

My eyes are drawn to the delicate fuzz of this first growth of the new season, like a baby’s skin, and then to how sunlight shines through the outstretched leaf exposing all of its veins. I was delighted that some of the branches were in focus, while others blurred.

I have words for this image now. It’s taken me four days to find them. Actually it’s taken me not finding them, enjoying the photo instead, reminiscing about the moment when it was taken, and then the words were there.

That seems about right.

Spring, and life in general, is fleeting. While I searched for words, this growth is already twice its size, and will be a distant memory in another week as everything else in the yard blossoms. Having the time that afternoon to appreciate this new little life, that is the true source of connection, understanding, and love.

I wonder how to create a balance between expression and enjoyment. How to allow things to be (eek!) unsaid. How wonderful it might be to feel my way through moments with the people I care about.